Barcelona "takes over" the top spot.

(Baonghean) - With Real Madrid's defeat to Bilbao early yesterday morning, Barcelona had great motivation to be determined to win all three points in their match against Rao Vallecano that evening. And at the Nou Camp, with the brilliance of the world's top striker duo Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, Barcelona had a more successful match than expected.

Barcelona took to the field in this match without two key players: striker Neymar (suspended due to accumulating five yellow cards) and midfielder Sergio Busquets (injured). However, with the remaining players such as Pique, Xavi, Iniesta, Mascherano, and especially the attacking duo of Messi and Suarez, Barcelona still had a superior squad compared to the visitors.

Messi shone brightly with a hat-trick, helping Barca climb to the top of La Liga. Photo: Internet

However, instead of launching an overwhelming attack from the start as they usually do against a weaker opponent, the home team played slowly, using medium-range passes rather than short-range one-two combinations. Faced with this style of play from the home team, Rayo Vallecano had more space to showcase their skills, so they also boldly pushed their formation forward to engage in an attacking game. And that was precisely the opportunity for Barcelona's superstars to demonstrate their talent.

In the 7th minute, a misjudged ball by a Rayo Vallecano defender following a pass from Xavi inadvertently became a beautiful assist for Suarez. After a neat control and push of the ball, the Uruguayan striker unleashed a stunning outside-of-the-foot shot into the near corner, beating goalkeeper Alvarez and opening the scoring.

In the following minutes, the Uruguayan striker remained the most outstanding player on the field. In the 9th minute, he successfully beat the offside trap, dribbling past goalkeeper Alvarez outside the penalty area. But instead of shooting immediately, Suarez passed the ball too weakly into the box, allowing a Vallecano defender to clear it. Just 3 minutes later, Suarez again raced down the left wing, beat a Rayo Vallecano defender, and fell inside the penalty area, but the referee did not consider the visiting player to have committed a foul.

Throughout the first half, Barcelona's best player, Lionel Messi, was rather lackluster. He only had one shot on goal in the 33rd minute when he received a cross into the penalty area from Iniesta and chipped the ball over goalkeeper Alvarez, but it went wide of the post. At the end of the first 45 minutes, the two teams went into halftime with the score at 0-1 in favor of Barcelona.

In the second half, Barcelona started faster and doubled their lead in the 49th minute. From a corner kick taken by Xavi, full-back Jordi Alba unexpectedly appeared in the penalty area and headed the ball against the post. Center-back Gerard Pique was there to tap the ball into the net from close range, beating goalkeeper Alvarez.

For the remainder of the match, Lionel Messi was almost a one-man show. In the 55th minute, visiting defender Tito committed a foul in the penalty area and received a red card, giving Barcelona a penalty. Lionel Messi stepped up to take it, and his shot was not saved by goalkeeper Alvarez. However, the referee ruled that a Rayo Vallecano defender had entered the penalty area before the Argentinian striker took the shot and allowed the home team to retake the penalty. This time Messi successfully converted, although his shot was again saved by Alvarez. In the 63rd minute, the score was increased to 4-0. In the 66th minute, after a pass from the left wing by Adriano, Messi dribbled past the defender and the goalkeeper of the visiting team before finishing accurately from a tight angle, making the score 5-0.

For the remainder of the match, the visitors maintained their attacking tempo, even after right-back Dani Alves committed a foul in the penalty area, was sent off, and the visitors managed to pull one back with a penalty kick from Bueno. In the 90th minute, Messi played a beautiful through pass to Suarez, who dribbled past Alvarez and finished accurately to seal the 6-1 victory. With this resounding win, Barcelona reached 62 points after 26 rounds, surpassing Real Madrid (61 points) to take the top spot in the 2014-2015 Spanish La Liga.

Mai Anh